Picking Up The Pieces
by bookwtchery
Summary: Now that a lot of ugly history is out, how will people handle being around Brodi? How long will it take things to get back to normal? WILL things get back to normal?


This one is set in time not long after the entire Lauryll fiasco, and it's about how the other characters react to the sudden dirty laundry being aired. Once again, any constructive criticism welcome, as long as it's respectful. (You can certainly say "Hey, this sucks" and I won't be offended, necessarily, but it won't help me make it a better story, either.)

*************

Eddie had just finished his last practice run of the day. He had thoroughly exhausted himself, much to his satisfaction, and was looking forward to a hot shower, an hour or so of playing around on the internet, then making his way to The Gravitude later to see who wasw hanging out. He was so heavily into his thoughts about plans for the evening that he didn't see Brodi at all on the stairs until he had run smack into him.

"Whoa, there,!" Brodi laughed as he steadied himself and reached out a hand to keep Eddie from falling backwards. "You OK, dude?"

Eddie blanched a bit as he looked up at Brodi. "Oh, hey, Bro. I'm good. Er, sorry about that. Guess my head's still on the practice."

Brodi nodded. "No problem. Hey, Elise and I are meeting Zoe, Moby, and Kaori for dinner later. Care to join?"

"Fraid I'll have to take a rain check, Brodi." Eddie responded, perhaps a bit too quickly. "I think I'm just going to head to bed early tonight. Thanks for the invite, though."

"All right, man. Well, the invitation's open if you change your mind. We're meeting around 7, and I think we've decided on the new Greek restaurant downtown."

Eddie nodded then pushed past Brodi and made his way up the stairs. He didn't have to have eyes in the back of his head to know that Brodi was still standing at the foot of the stairs, still looking at him with a concerned look on his face. The surfer would never say so, but Eddie knew he'd been a lousy friend as of late. Ever since the Lauryll incident, Eddie had been uncomfortable around Brodi. It was nothing Brodi had done. In fact, Eddie couldn't place his finger on it, exactly, so he just avoided the man altogether when he could. Yes, it stunk that this was his reaction when Brodi probably needed things to get back to normal, but...

"Still playing chicken, Fuzzy?"

Eddie stopped and turned around to find Psymon leaning against the wall right behind him. Damn, how did he DO that?

"Beg your pardon, Sketchy?"

Psymon crossed his arms and narrowed his gaze. "It's Brodi's pardon you need to be beggin'. You're supposed to be his best friend. Don't think people haven't noticed you run the other way any time he walks into a room."

Eddie's face grew hot, and he felt embarrassed. Then he felt angry that he was embarrassed, and even angrier that Psymon Stark had been the one to point out to him what he was already feeling guilty about.

"I AM his best friend. I've just been busy. And so has he. Besides, he's got Elise..."

"Jealous?" Psymon sneered as he pushed himself away from the wall and took a step towards Eddie. He stopped and leaned in a couple of inches from Eddie's face. "I somehow doubt Bombshell is the problem here. Look, I don't give a rat's ass one way or another. But I do know that after what Zen has been through the last two or three months, he deserves to have friends who support him, or at least are willing to get him drunk so he can forget it. And if this is the way you treat friends, he DEFINITELY deserves better than he's getting."

Psymon stormed off before Eddie could come up with a suitable reply. He walked on to his room deep in thought. Once inside, he locked the door behind him and turned on the lava lamp, hoping that maybe the floating purple and orange globs would settle his headache. When that didn't work, he hopped into a steaming shower, where he spent most of the time watching the water run down the drain. When he'd finally had enough of that, he toweled himself off and pulled on the loudest pajamas he could find. He was just firing up his laptop when he heard a knock at the door.

"What NOW?" he grumbled as he yanked the door open. "Oh. Kaori!"

The tiny Japanese teenager looked nervous. "Uhm, hi, Eddie. I saw Brodi in the lounge. He said he'd invited you to dinner with us and you declined."

"I did."

"Will you reconsider?"

"Kay, I'm really tired tonight. I plan to..."

"Why are you avoiding Brodi?"

Eddie's face grew hot again. "I am NOT avoiding him. Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Can I come in? Just for a minute? I don't think we should discuss this in the hall."

Eddie sighed and stood aside to let Kaori in.

"I don't want to be rude, Kaori, but...WHAT?"

This time it was Kaori who sighed. "When Brodi was in the hospital, do you remember how afraid I was to go into his room?"

Eddie nodded.

"As much as I can't stand Psymon--he helped me overcome my fear."

"Yeah, by dragging you down the hall by your arm and pinning you to the wall outside Brodi's hospital room."

Kaori nodded. "His methods were rough, true. But it was what he said to me that matters. He pointed out that a true friend doesn't avoid someone because a situation might be outside your comfort level."

"I told you I am NOT avoiding him!"

"You once would hang out with him all the time. Now you will barely sit in the same room with him."

"That's not..."

"It is true. And you know it is, or you would not be so defensive. Especially when we were discussing my experience and I had not related it to you yet."

Eddie opened his mouth to say something, then realized he couldn't really answer to her comment. Seeing his defeat, Kaori headed towards the door.

"So will you join us for dinner? I think it will be good for Brodi if things return to normal as quickly as possible."

Eddie wasn't sure things could return to normal, but he said nothing to that effect. However, his hesitation seemed enough for Kaori.

"I see." she said quietly. "Well, at least think about what I said.

She left without giving him an opportunity to answer.

Not five minutes had passed before there was another knock at the door. He considered not answering it, but if it was Kaori she already knew he was home. The prospect of another lecture made him angry all over again, and he stomped over to the door and yanked it open.

"I've already said no, for crying out lou...oh, hi, Brodi."

"It's a bit late in the day for salesmen, don't you think?" said a slightly bemused Brodi.

"Oh, sorry about that, dude. I thought you were someone else."

"I'd ask who, but from that reaction I doubt I want to know. You, ah, mind if I come in?"

"Brodi, if it's about earlier, I said I was sorry."

"It's not. But it's OK if you're not up for company. Look, dinner invite still stands. Otherwise I'll see you around, OK?"

Brodi started back down the hall towards his room. Eddie watched him going, and he felt lousier and slimier with each step Brodi took. Finally, he caved.

"Brodi, wait."

Brodi turned around and gave him a quizzical look. "Yes, Eddie?"

"Come on in."

"I don't want to..."

"Get in here before I change my mind again."

Eddie walked back into his room and left the door open as an invitation. After a moment Brodi walked in and closed the door behind him.

Brodi took a chair while Eddie flopped across his bed.

"Look," Eddie began, "regardless of what anyone thinks, I took a rain check on the dinner because I worked my ass of today in practice and I'm exhausted."

Brodi shrugged. "Think nothing of it. I'm not offended."

Eddie sighed. "Yeah? Well maybe you should be."

Brodi leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands in front of him. "Why is that?" he asked quietly.

"Because I've been a lousy friend. " Eddie sat up so he could face Brodi eye to eye. "It's been pointed out to me that I've been avoiding you. Truth is, I have. I wasn't even aware of it at first. It's just...well, I knew that Elise has been taking care of you. And dude, I haven't been sure how to treat you since that whole Lauryll incident. So, when I realized Elise was stepping up to the plate, I removed myself from the equation. It was a lousy thing to do, and I'm sorry."

Brodi tilted his head to one side and looked at Eddie in silence for a moment.

"Eddie," he finally began, after what seemed like years, "I appreciate your honesty. But, dude, I'm going to tell you exactly what I told Rahzel. I am no different now than I was last week or a month ago, before any of you knew anything about what happened to me in college. The only difference is your perception. I don't need taken care of any more than I did before. I haven't suddenly become an infant."

Eddie pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes. Man, was he getting a headache.

"Why did you not mention it before? That's kind of a major event, my man."

Brodi shrugged good-naturedly. "I try to leave the past in the past. I lived through it. I healed, I moved on. It's the Buddhist in me. What can I say?"

Eddie sighed again and looked back up. "I just think I'd have a harder time keeping it a secret. And this one didn't stay in the past, now, did it?"

"Ah, so that's it."

Eddie glared. "What's it?"

"I wasn't keeping it a secret. It just wasn't relevant. Eddie, I don't let what happened define me."

Eddie stood and began to pace. "Yeah, but her showing up again sure messed you up. THAT makes it pretty relevant, don't you think? Brodi, you dropped out of sight. You got drunk. DRUNK. You don't drink, or do I need to remind you about that? If that wasn't bad enough, with all the rumors floating around, neither Atomika nor Rahzel were forthcoming with any information."

"Eddie, they were only trying to..."

"No information. You know the last time those two were so tight-lipped about something that involved any of us? It was your accident, buddy, and you almost DIED. I had no idea then what was going on. And I didn't this time either. How am I supposed to be your friend, dude, if I'm kept in the dark. And them trying to protect your privacy? That's just gasoline on a forest fire when it comes to rumors. There's talk of your having violent nightmares, of having PTSD, of being more than a little unhinged. Meanwhile, I've still been told NOTHING. How am I supposed to know what to do if I'm the only one around you and you flip out? I wouldn't be able to keep you safe because I don't know WHAT'S GOING ON. So yeah, I guess at this point I'd rather stay in the dark."

Eddie froze as the words left his mouth, realizing their cruelty but knowing it was too late to retract.

"Geez, Brodi, I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

Brodi lifted his hand calmly. "No, don't worry about it. It's OK."

He stood with a calm that was almost eerie, even coming from the Zen Master. He walked to the door, hesitating as he rested his hand on the door knob. As he turned, his jaw was tight, but he spoke softly.

"Eddie, I was drugged, kidnapped, and assaulted in several torturous ways. Three days handcuffed to a bed, living a hell of drugs and pain so heavy I didn't know where I was or half the time even who I was. It was ten years ago, and it has taken ten years of various combinations of therapy, meditation, and spiritual healing for me to even be comfortable in my own skin again. I'm sorry you felt slighted, but I truly had finally gotten to the point where I could put it to rest. It honestly, truly was not RELEVANT. I was not trying to keep a secret. That Lauryll decided to show up now was a fluke, but it showed me that I'm not necessarily done healing."

He turned to leave, then stopped again. This time he spoke without turning around.

"I now know why so many crime victims don't want it known that they were victimized at all. It was nice, for a while, to have a set of friends who knew me for me, and not as some freak male who managed to get himself mickeyed and violated. I do still value our friendship, Eddie, but I don't want to make you uncomfortable, and I certainly don't want you to be afraid of me. Maybe we'll be able to hang out again soon."

"Brodi, I really didn't mean...."

The door shut, and Eddie found himself talking to the door. He groaned and thre3w himself down on the bed.

"Just like I planned it. Only BAD."

Eddie knew that replaying the scene over in his head was going to be pointless. He tried to play around on the internet and immerse his attention into something other than his seemingly ruined friendship, but he couldn't get interested in anything. Finally deciding that maybe it was the leftover bad vibes from the discussion, he picked up his computer and took to the lounge in front of the fireplace. He made a mental note of the time so he could be sure to disappear before the dinner party started gathering. Arguing with his friends one at a time was bad enough, but he didn't need to feel like he was crossing several of them at once. So he sat at the fireplace, just a boy and his laptop, but so far had managed to be only minimally interested in the website he was perusing. He was, however, apparently absorbed enough that he didn't notice Elise walk up and sit beside him on the couch. She said nothing, just leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.

"If you're here to talk about Brodi," he grumped when he finally noticed her, "I've already talked to him. And I'm sick of people reminding me what a lousy friend I've been."

"I'm not," she said softly, still staring straight ahead. "And I know you talked to him. I saw him leaving your room earlier. I came to see how you were doing."

"Look, I said I've already...what did you say?"

Elise looked at him for the first time. "You're not the only one who hasn't been winning any friendship awards. I've spent almost all of my time with Brodi. I haven't hung out with anyone else."

"Yeah, well," Eddie said glumly, "Not for lack of trying. I've been asked to hang out with you guys. I just keep bailing on you."

"Yeah, I know."

Eddie glared at her.

"Oh, come on. You know what I mean. Anyway, it's beside the point. Look, we almost lost Brodi. Twice. And I got so wrapped up in all the emergencies and being freaked out myself that I never noticed how you were dealing with everything. I mean, he's your friend, too. He's everyone's friend, not just mine. I've kind of monopolized him lately."

"You're his girlfriend. That's a little different."

Elise blushed. "We're not..."

Eddie laughed as he shut his laptop down. "Don't tell me you two haven't had The Talk. Or are you both still in denial?"

Elise just looked at him blankly.

"Elise, Brodi Ford has been crazy about you since the day he met you and you followed him back to his room harassing him because he smoked your ass in Garibaldi. You two just, I don't know, WORK together.

"We're really just..."

"Yeah, yeah." Eddie chuckled as he clicked his laptop closed. "You haven't noticed the way he looks at you?"

"Not really."

"You. Haven't. Noticed." Eddie looked at her, dumbfounded. "Girl, are you for REAL?"

"Well..."

"Or how about the fact that he seems to lose about 20 IQ points when you're around because he can't concentrate on anything?"

"You don't think..."

"Then how about this: you genuinely came over here to see how I was doing, and we wind up talking about Brodi anyway?"

Elise sat back, stunned. "Oh my God."

Eddie grinned triumphantly. "How about dinner, Elise? We'll be here all night otherwise...I can give you a thousand examples with regards to you and Brodi."

Elise still looked stunned. "Uh..sure. What are you in the mood for?"

Eddie tried to hide his smirk. Yeah, maybe it was going to take a while for things to get back to normal, whatever that was. In the meantime, how would Brodi put it? The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

"How about Greek? I hear there's a new restaurant downtown and a few riders were going to check it out.


End file.
